Hair transplants have become commonplace over the last few years. In one of the newest technique of transplanting hair, small "grafts" of tissue containing only a few hairs are placed in sites on a recipient's scalp.
In particular, hair from other portions of the recipient are cut into very small cylindrical sections, or grafts. The recipients scalp is anesthetized, and then expanded by infusing saline into the scalp beneath the galeal layer. The surgeon inserts a needle-like dilator through the scalp, including the galeal layer, forming a cavity. The dilator is removed, and a donor graft is inserted into the cavity.
The success rate of this technique depends primarily upon whether the dilator succeeds in forming a cavity which extends below the galeal layer, and upon time lapse between preparation and insertion of the graft.
New techniques in hair grafting require a large number, often 200 to 600, grafts to be placed during a single session. In the present technique, dilators are individually placed by hand. This is not only time consuming, but is inexact, since the surgeon places the dilators essentially randomly.
In order for the transplanted hair have a uniform look and proper coverage, however, the grafts must be arranged on the scalp in specific patterns. For example, numerous small grafts are often placed near the hairline, while larger grafts are placed less densely on the top and rear of the scalp.
A need exists for a method of easily forming cavities into which hair grafts are inserted and for controlling their location and number of dilators inserted across the entire scalp. Further there is a need for devices and methods for locating and easily inserting a pattern of tissue dilators to receive the grafts.